


Is It Hot Here (Or Is It Just Me)

by Aurrus



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II
Genre: Fenders Family Secret Santa 2015, Fluff (I guess), Hilarity Ensues, M/M, Misunderstanding, Modern AU, Roommates, broken heating, inability to talk things through
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-10
Updated: 2016-01-10
Packaged: 2018-05-12 23:23:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5685517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aurrus/pseuds/Aurrus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which the broken heating can make the appartment feel like tropical hell, Anders tries yoga, Fenris fails to make his courting attempts obvious, and both Anders and Fenris have the most ridiculous confrontation, because apparently Anders's naked chest does that to people.</p><p>A (late) present for assassin-swede!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Is It Hot Here (Or Is It Just Me)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Tiili97](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tiili97/gifts).



> I'm like, SO super sorry that it took me so long to post this; nevertheless, I hope you had great holidays and will have a great year ahead of you!
> 
> I was inspired by a list of AU prompts on tumblr, if no one can tell (yes, the one about Christmas party turning into a tropical themed one because of the radiator, only no party here, sorry!) and a fanart of Anders doing yoga, I think, which I couldn't find after only seeing it once, unfortunately. But I know it has to be somewhere.
> 
> Anywho, hopefully you like it! ^^

Anders took a deep breath and slowly relaxed, letting the tension flow from his body on the exhale as he stretched. It’s been a long time since he last did yoga – the clinic where he worked kept him ridiculously busy, and when he came home he could do little else than manage a simple dinner and fall straight into bed. His free days were mostly spent on other chores, so he usually had neither time nor energy to indulge himself.

Besides, whenever he did have some time to spend, his grumpy roommate always made his aversion to the sight of Anders stretching known. What exactly Fenris had against yoga, Anders had no idea – perhaps he detested the sheer idea of any kind of physical exercise, or, more likely, it wasn't yoga but Anders himself that Fenris didn't like.

Which, really, was a sort of a tragedy and never failed to break his heart, just a little.

Because that the thing about his asshole of a roommate: Fenris was drop-dead gorgeous, and Anders had something akin to a crush on him since the moment they met, when Hawke introduced them to each other after Anders carelessly mentioned that he had been thinking about getting a roommate.

And so a roommate he got, courtesy of overly friendly and ever eager to help Hawke – another soul in search of a living accommodation and a roommate to share it with.

Fenris was, as it goes, absolutely gorgeous with his white hair artlessly tousled and the sharp lines of white ink going down from his chin contrasting with dark skin; he also turned out to be a complete asshole.

Well. If Anders was to be honest, loath as he was to, he had to admit that maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t true – it was just that they turned out to be as different as they could get, which meant arguing and fighting all the time. Combined with Fenris’s natural grumpiness and closed personality and the fact that due to Anders’s late working hours they barely saw each other, they haven’t exactly had a chance to get to know each other all that well, so he probably shouldn’t call Fenris a jerk just because the man obviously failed to crush on him as well, thus killing Anders’s crush in the making.

Or at the very least stopping it before it developed into a full-blown one; despite his better judgement, Anders still kind of… mooned over him.

Just a little.

Still, it changed very little; Fenris might not be an asshole, but he still was very vocal about everything he didn’t like about Anders, and that was… a lot of things.

Yoga included, which was why Anders took to doing it only when Fenris wasn’t around, since there wasn’t enough space in his tiny bedroom and he had to use their shared living room.

It was ridiculously hot today – the heating went off, and it was close to a living hell; in hindsight, it probably wasn’t his brightest idea to indulge in physical exercise, but Anders was nothing if not determined, and he was going to make the best of what time alone in their shared flat he had.

In the hall, the door clicked open and then shut.

Or maybe not.

Anders took another deep breath and slowly exhaled, closing his eyes and stubbornly staying in place.

He heard Fenris’s steps approaching, and then they halted, presumably as he entered the living room and took in the image; by now what little progress with relaxation he made was lost as Anders tensed in anticipation of another bickering match.

Moments tickled in silence, punctuated only by his own even breathing from where he was sitting on his rug.

Right when he thought he was going to explode, Fenris finally spoke.

“What... are you doing?” he asked stiffly.

There it goes.

“Oh, you know,” Anders finally opened his eyes and found Fenris staring at him bemusedly. His expression was wary, and it certainly didn’t look like his usual sneer. As he caught Anders looking, though, his face became carefully blank, as usual. “Just… doing yoga,” Anders muttered, losing the track of his wit.

This time Fenris snorted and rolled his eyes, striding to the hall that led to their bedrooms.

Anders blinked in surprise and twisted his neck to follow Fenris’s retreating back with confusion. He almost believed that it was the end it, surprising as it was, but Fenris emerged from his room a few minutes later, having lost his leather jacket and messenger bag. He was still wearing jeans and a tight-fitting black turtleneck, though, which wasn’t unusual to him, but had to be extremely uncomfortable in the stifling heat of their flat.

He didn’t even comment on it, though, instead prowling back to the couch and eyeing Anders suspiciously, obviously intending to torment him.

Personally, Anders thought that it was irresponsible to torment someone without taking care of one’s own comfort first, but if Fenris wanted to boil up, well, it was his choice.

“Why are you naked?” he grumbled, hesitating before smoothly changing his route to the kitchen; Anders stared after him and shook his head disbelievingly.

“I’m _not_ naked,” he stated firmly, looking down his torso just to make sure he didn’t, in fact, forget his pants. “Why, is this a new rule of our shared flat? I can’t lose my shirt if I feel like it?”

“It’s called a common decency,” Fenris hissed; there was a sound of the fridge’s door being yanked open, and Anders barely managed to bit his tongue before he could retort that it was also a common decency to put away one’s food – something that Fenris failed to accomplish fairly regularly, leaving it up to Anders to put his leftovers where they belonged when he came home from his late shifts. He was adamant not to bring up this issue, though – at least, not yet; he was far too curious to know how long it could go on like this.

Besides, it wasn’t like he needed to bait Fenris. The man managed just fine on his own.

“It’s called ‘I can do whatever I want in my flat’,” he retorted hotly instead.

“ _Our_ flat,” Fenris growled, emerging from the kitchen with a scowl on his face. Now this was more like him; Anders was so used to it being his default expression that whenever Fenris didn’t scowl it almost made him worried.

“May I remind you, you weren’t present when I lost my shirt,” Anders narrowed his eyes, and Fenris held his stare stubbornly. “So even if I needed to ask a permission to do so – which I certainly didn’t – there was no one to ask. Or are you disappointed that you missed the show?”

 _That_ seemed to break his roommate’s concentration; Fenris sputtered, eyes going wide in scandalized shock, and wrinkled his nose before turning away sharply.

And then promptly turning back, an accusing finger pointing at Anders.

“I’m having quite a show right now,” he hissed, and – was that a _blush_ spreading over his cheekbones? No way; must’ve been the heat of the room finally getting to him, Anders thought, the distraction making the meaning of Fenris’s words slip from his mind.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“I said,” Fenris’s eye twitched visibly, and he took a deep, shuddering breath, one of his hands snapping up as if to tug at the tight collar of his turtleneck, but clenching into a fist before he could do so. “That you’re giving me quite a show just _now_.”

Anders gaped, not even embarrassed by the expression he was probably making – mouth stupidly agape and eyes bugging out – because _surely_ he didn’t hear what he thought he just had heard?

There was just a hint of truth in Fenris’s words, even if the man probably didn’t know about it himself – one of the reasons Anders had insisted on doing yoga in the common area was because he had kind of wanted to show Fenris what he got, but, obviously, it didn’t work the intended way, and while he complained and whined about it, he didn’t press the matter too much – the rejection _stung_ , and he didn’t need to be constantly reminded about it by Fenris’s sour grimace.

But for Fenris to acknowledge his state of half-undressed as a _show_ was – not something he expected. It sent a pleasant thrill over his overheated skin; just as he licked his lips and decided to inquire if it was a _good_ kind of show, though, Fenris continued, eyes burning even brighter than before.

“So I doubt I missed anything,” he snarled. “Much as I might’ve wanted to.”

Well. There goes the pleasant thrill. At least it cooled Anders down somewhat, which was as nice a bonus as he could hope to get from a situation like this.

“Well, I’m _so_ sorry,” he snapped indignantly, finally rising to his feet; Fenris’s glare slid down his chest before immediately snapping back to his face, and if Anders didn’t know better, he would’ve said that the blush he thought he saw earlier darkened. As it was, though, it probably was from anger – or perhaps the heat of the room was finally getting to him as well, seeing how his hand jerked as if to tug at the collar of his turtleneck, but forcibly fell back to his side. “That you have to put up with such a _disgusting_ sight of me!”

“Don’t,” Fenris growled, and yes, the flush now was definitely more pronounced; despite everything, Anders found himself worrying about the man overheating and barely suppressed the urge to tell him so – Fenris was an adult, much as he sometimes acted as anything but, and could decide for himself.

And in the light of their current… dispute he wasn’t going to suggest Fenris losing his own shirt.

“Don’t do what? Taunt you with the despicable sight of my chest? I’ll have you know, I’m _not_ in the worst shape,” Anders quipped, self-consciously folding his arms across the said chest. He _wasn’t,_ and he knew it, and it didn’t really matter what Fenris thought on the matter – but it still kind of hurt.

“Don’t act as if you’re not doing it on purpose!” And suddenly, in a few strides, Fenris was invading his private space, standing so close it took Anders a few moments to focus on his face, blinking in surprise at his scowling, flushing roommate. “Stop _playing_ with me,” Fenris added, and this close Anders could actually see something akin to frustration in his eyes, glowing with agitation and some other emotion he couldn’t name.

“I’m not playing with anyone,” he muttered, confused, and frowned as Fenris’s scowl deepened. It was starting to feel like they were having two entirely different conversations right now.

Fenris took a deep breath and stared at some point above his shoulder, not quite meeting his eyes.

“You… tease me,” he gritted out. “I don’t care if you win anymore, but I’m tired of this. If you wanted to prove anything… I hope you can stop now.”

 _Definitely_ two different conversations.

“Fenris, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Anders admitted, all traces of anger and hurt forgotten in favor of honest confusion. Nothing he said made any sense; _how_ was Anders teasing him?

This time Fenris didn’t hesitate before looking in his eyes, even more agitated and furious then before.

“I didn’t take you for someone who likes humiliating others to such an extent, but fine, be it your way, if you want me to spell it, I will – you know how I… feel,” he almost choked out, and when Anders gave him a blank look, huffed out, “that I _like you_ – will _that_ suffice? And you clearly can’t just let it go, even though I can take a hint and never tried anything because you already showed that you’re not interested – but you must rub it in my face, don’t you?”

It was the heat, Anders thought distantly. The heat was doing… things to him. Making him hallucinate, and for some reason, his hallucination had a form of his roommate, admitting that he had… _feelings_ for Anders. And here he thought hallucinations usually weren’t so obvious.

“Well, are you happy now?” Fenris demanded, bringing his attention back to him. “Or will you insist on tormenting me with my ill-fitted attraction further? Before you answer, let me assure you, there’s very little left already,” he hissed, and Anders rapidly shook his head, eyes going wide.

“Wait, no, you can’t just—say things like that! You can’t admit that you _like_ me and then say that you don’t in the next breath – that’s fucking unfair!” he complained with a wail, throwing his arms up in exasperation. Before Fenris could say anything – and he wanted to, considering the way his eyes narrowed dangerously – he hastily continued, “Fenris, I swear to god, I had no idea – wait, are you fucking with me? You’ve got to, I – you’re kidding, right?” Because that certainly was more plausible than anything of what Fenris has just said being true.

It seemed that the bizarreness of the situation was finally getting to Fenris as well, because the look he shot Anders wasn’t as furious as before – more on confused note.

“If you didn’t know,” he drawled slowly, ignoring the question, “then why would you mock me for it?”

“I—what? How did I mock you?” For everything that transpired between them, Anders had never mocked Fenris for anything – now teasing, perhaps it did happen once in a while about Fenris always brooding, but somehow Anders doubted that it was what Fenris was referring to. Nevertheless, there was something even more astounding in Fenris’s words – “And pray tell me, how was I supposed to know that you didn’t hate me with a burning passion? Because that’s the vibe that I always got from you,” he poked Fenris in chest, and he took a step back, bewildered and more than a little confused.

“You… flirt with me?” he offered cautiously. Anders couldn’t help but blush – and tried very hard not to notice a bead of sweat crawling down the side of Fenris’s neck, into the dark collar. “But you made it clear that you’re not interested in me returning the favor.”

Well. That was interesting.

To this day Anders kind of thought that Fenris had no idea what flirting was, much less that he realized Anders was flirting with him.

Awkward didn’t even begin to cover where they were standing now.

“I flirted because _I_ like _you!_ ” he ran his fingers through his hair and chuckled nervously. “Why else would I – and since when were you returning the favor? As I said, I never… I thought _you_ are not interested!”

“I left dinner for you when you’re working late!” Fenris growled, apparently losing his patience. Not that Anders blamed him – the whole thing was a mess. “And you never touch it, as if it were poisoned!”

This wasn’t bordering on ridiculous anymore; Anders giggled nervously and slapped his hand to his mouth immediately at Fenris’s warning glare.

“I thought you were being a jerk, leaving the food out and never cleaning up after yourself,” he muttered disbelievingly.

“And I brought the things you lost in the living room,” his roommate continued, although with a slight hesitation. It took Anders a moment to realize what he meant, but then—

“I thought you couldn’t stand my things being scattered around the place, for fuck’s sake!”

Yeah, come to think of it, he could remember a few times Fenris knocked on his door and shoved various items at him – his reading glasses, a book, a charger and whatever else he has forgotten in their shared space, but it was always with a scowl and a glare and – just how was he supposed to know it was Fenris’s idea of care?!

Fenris simply glared at him some more, and then turned around with a huff, ready to storm out to his room.

“Wait,” he called out before Fenris could make more than a few steps, quickly grabbing his arm. Fenris turned to look at him over his shoulder, his eyes murderous – but after this little most enlightening conversation Anders had a reason to believe that what he had previously considered an unnamed emotion was actually embarrassment that Fenris simply had no idea how to deal with. “Okay, time-out – this is… a huge mess,” he chuckled, and was rewarded when a corner of Fenris’s mouth twitched in a small smirk as well, making something in his chest twist. “But that aside, there’s one thing I don’t understand – you just said that you liked me, and I just said that I actually _do_ return the favor – oh, god, do I ever,” he blurted out, feeling himself blush a little. “So… why the hell are we fighting?”

Fenris fidgeted in place, lowering his head and staring at Anders’s fingers where they encircled his wrist.

“I mean, yeah, you obviously thought that I was humiliating you for your feelings – and we’re so gonna talk about it later, because what the actual fuck, I thought I never gave you a reason to believe me to be that kind of person – and I thought that you hated me, and perhaps we’re gonna talk about that, too, because you actually _did_ give me every reason to think so, and if that’s your idea of flirting, let me tell you, it could use some improvement, but--”

“Anders,” Fenris interrupted him, and Anders shut up, realizing that he was rambling. “What… do you suggest?”

Now that was an easy question. Anders grinned and tugged Fenris closer; surprisingly enough, he went along, willingly, if a little hesitantly and still frowning at the taller man, adorably flushed and confused, but at the same time as eager as Anders had ever seen him.

“That’s the thing,” he all but purred; Fenris’s eyes widened a fraction, and he smiled brightly. “We could definitely talk, because boy, do we have a lot to talk about; or… we could say ‘screw it’, and, well. Screw it. As in, I’m a firm believer that after two people admit their attraction to each other, making out is in order.”

“Is that so?” Fenris breathed out, and Anders didn’t miss the way his gaze stopped at his lips; he reached to touch Fenris’s face, and the other man leaned into his touch, which settled it.

His lips, Anders found, were softer than they looked and felt _incredible_ against his own; Fenris also seemed to know what he was doing with those lips and tongue, but was so careful it almost hurt and made Anders moan into the chaste kisses.

He also seemed to really like Anders’s hair, seeing how he constantly ran his fingers through the light locks and tugged at them to make Anders turn his head the right way.

“Fenris,” Anders breathed after a few glorious minutes, when they both somehow ended up on the couch, breathing hard and sweating even more with the additional heat between them. “Lose the damned shirt, you’re going to cook up in it.”

Fenris blinked at him owlishly, his lips wet and parted and so tempting—

But he was really hot, and not just in _that_ sense – although he was – but Anders could feel heat radiating from him, and not all of it was coming from their current activity.

“Isn’t that a little… fast?” Fenris wondered, frowning and swallowing hard; Anders chuckled and nuzzled the side of his face.

“Well… That depends – I really don’t mind going fast, but while I’d love to ogle you, that’s not quite what I meant. I just don’t want you to overheat – consider that a doctor’s concern.”

“That’s quite presumptuous of you,” Fenris cocked an eyebrow at him and grinned, leaning in to lick a wet line along Anders’s neck. “To think that you can make me overheat this easily.”

“No, you dumbass,” Anders laughed and then moaned, tilting his head as Fenris nipped on the sensitive skin. “The heating – has gone mad, it’s, like, tropical here,” he gasped softly and then sighed in disappointment when Fenris suddenly pulled back, looking at him with an unreadable expression on his face. “What? Is anything wrong?”

Were they moving too fast for him already? Anders tried not to panic and shuffled back as well – but Fenris firmly held him in place, and he relaxed somewhat. Although he would’ve liked nothing more than finally getting his hands on Fenris, he didn’t mean to push – it was a good thing that Fenris didn’t look like someone who was pushed too far, at least.

“So it _is_ hot here,” he stated blankly, and then suddenly let his head fall back onto the couch’s back. “I… might have assumed that it was just me.”

Anders laughed so hard he fell to the floor.

For his troubles, he got smacked in the face with a balled up turtleneck – and then Fenris joined him, chuckling and sprawling over him and kissing him until Anders forgot what it was that made him laugh so hard in the first place, relishing in the feel of skin on skin in this near tropical heat.


End file.
